While it was no part in the decision-making process to bring veteran reliever Joba Chamberlain to Detroit, it certainly doesn’t hurt that he’s got an old friend here, with whom he’s eager to be reunited.

And, boy, are Chamberlain and former teammate Phil Coke going to make the Detroit Tigers’ bullpen a hoot this coming season.

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“I didn’t have the chance to talk to Phil, but every time that he comes to New York, or I was in Detroit, I always talked to Phil,” Chamberlain said Friday morning, on a conference call to announce his signing of an incentive-laden one-year deal with the Tigers.

“In Detroit, you can kind of stick your head out of the bullpen and talk to each other, and Phil is a great man. I mean, he’s a character. We had some good times in New York, and I’m looking forward to being back with him, and sharing some good memories in Detroit, and definitely getting some more stories from Phil. He’s a guy that will keep you entertained.

“I’m looking forward to seeing him, giving him a big hug, and being his teammate again.”

It may not have been specifically Coke that Chamberlain and his agent, Jim Murray, were thinking of when they sat down in Nebraska a month ago to map out the offseason free-agency plan, after an up-and-down seven years in New York.

Comfort was at the top of the list, though, even more than money. The deal is worth a reported $2.5 million, but could add an additional $500,000 based on an appearances incentive, according to MLB.com’s Jason Beck.

And the Tigers were at or near the top of a short list of desired destinations.

“We identified them pretty early. There was a lot of interest, and there were other opportunities out there for potentially even more dollars. However, the money wasn’t a driving factor in this. I made that very clear at the beginning,” Murray said. “This is more about opportunity. This is more about Joba feeling comfortable.”

It helps, too, that Chamberlain — once thought of as the heir apparent to Mariano Rivera as the Yankees’ closer, before injuries (and other issues) took the luster off the expectations in New York — has a chance to start clean.

“This is a new chapter for me,” he said. “The past is the past, and I’ve learned from it. I’m very thankful for all the opportunities I’ve had.”

The litany of injuries were certainly contributors to the ineffectiveness his numbers reflect since early dominance in his first two seasons. He posted a 4.50 ERA and 1.470 WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched ratio) in five seasons since 2008, two of those spent primarily as a starter. During those seasons, he suffered injuries to his rotator cuff (2008), elbow (requiring Tommy John surgery in June, 2011), ankle (2012) and oblique (2013).

The elbow surgery is the most concerning, as it usually takes pitchers two years to fully come back from the Tommy John procedure.

But Chamberlain’s velocity last year — right around 95 mph, according to BrooksBaseball.net — wasn’t concerning to the Tigers, who were willing to take a chance on Chamberlain as a low-risk reclamation project.

“We realize that, coming off Tommy John, sometimes it takes a while to come back. His velocity last year was good. We can provide him with a setting over here, with Jeff Jones as our pitching coach, Javair (Gillett) our conditioning guy, the commitment that he has to get back, to try to resurrect his career, to get back to the type of pitcher that he’s capable of. The ability is still there, the velocity is still there,” Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski said. “As we’ve talked about, we’ve been looking for a veteran arm in our bullpen to complement the other individuals that we have. We’ve liked Joba for years, his ability — he’s had some ups and downs as far as injuries are concerned over the last couple of seasons — but he threw the ball last year with great velocity.

“We feel that he’s a great addition to add, as far as his abilities, his experience, and also in a position where he is focused on trying to get back to be the type of pitcher that he was originally in his career.”

While the Tigers won’t slot Chamberlain into any specific role — especially since new manager Brad Ausmus hasn’t even seen guys like Bruce Rondon pitch yet — they like the fact that he can pitch the seventh, or eighth, if Rondon doesn’t end up claiming the set-up role.

It begs a question, though, considering that the Tigers had a team option on the contract of Jose Veras — last year’s set-up man, after his trade deadline acquisition — for $4 million. That’s not really much more than Chamberlain could make this season, if he reaches his incentives.

Do the Tigers really like Chamberlain that much more than Veras?

“Yes we did, and yes we do. No offense to Jose Veras, because he’s a solid guy, and we liked him, and we had an opportunity to bring him back. We like Joba. We like his ability ... we’re in a situation where he’ll help us in that role. We had our choice of a lot of guys who are still out there on one-year deals, even a three-year deal in a couple of cases. Now, I’m not talking about the closer guys who are out there,” Dombrowski said.

“But we like Joba. We liked him last year, we’ve liked him in the past. Our scouts that have seen him have liked him. ... We like what he brings to the bullpen, so the answer to that is, yes.”

With Chamberlain coming off a season in which he posted career highs in ERA (4.93), WHIP (1.738) and walk rate (5.6 per 9 inn.), it’ll certainly be a project for pitching coach Jeff Jones, who has a reputation for turnaround projects from his time as a minor-league coach.

That, too, was a consideration for Chamberlain in his search for a new home.

“Oh, of course. Obviously you want to, at this point in your career, you’ve played and you’ve put in time, and now you want to continue to do what’s best for you,” he said. “I’m just excited to work with Jeff, and get going. Obviously Feb. 13th can’t come soon enough for me, with this opportunity.”

Matthew B. Mowery covers the Tigers for Digital First Media. Read his “Out of Left Field” blog at opoutofleftfield.blogspot.com.